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Nova Union Missing in Action
With employee salaries unpaid, where is the Nova union in all this? They have fought for the longest time to get teachers enrolled in shakai hoken, but when the teachers need union representation the most, the union is strangely silent. What's going on?
The domain http://www.novaunion.com/ has been suspended, and the Nova branch page of the General Union doesn't look like it's been updated in a long time. The Japanese pages, however, appear to be recent, but this doesn't help the vast majority of teachers who can't read Japanese.
A look at the Nova Teachers United mailing list turns up a few posts critical of the union:
From "Alarm Class":
Which brings up an interesting pint [sic]: where the hell has the Nova union been in all this? The Nova Union website www.novaunion.com/ has been suspended and there is nothing on the General Union web site, either. Nova is doomed and they seem to have taken no action. It's every teacher for himself. No union is going to help anybody at this point.
From "Mark Beckley":
with the biggest crisis for the company and the workers EVER, the union has gone completely AWOL. but it was never about protecting the teachers, was it bob. it was all about bringing the company down. you were unable to, try as you might, but now the company is going down on its own. mission accomplished for bob! take a victory lap, buddy. you don't need to pretend to care about the teachers at nova anymore. oh, you're not even pretending. right. carry on.
From "Julia":
The union went out of commission faster than Nova did!
If the union is missing in action, then teachers really are on their own. And this is a shame because eikaiwa needs some organization to protect employment conditions and pay levels. I don't think the union can save teachers' jobs at this point, but it's odd they haven't jumped at this opportunity to help.
Comments
I`ll take back what I said
I`ll take back what I said about teachers bitching about the union forcing Nova to follow the law and expecting them to stand up for them in other areas.
As it stands now the union appears to be gutless/helpless/innefective when they are really needed.
UNION
Bob isn't the president. Get up to date.
The union never was interested in destroying Nova. They wanted to improve conditions and get Nova to obey the law.
All unionized teachers were paid on time. If you weren't paid on time you have only Nova and yourself to blame.
Just to funny to see the criticism.....
Those that don't belong to the Union asking "where is the union now?" is just ridiculous. The Nova Union is supposed to be made up of Nova employees....and the employees that don't belong to the Union should be asking themselves the question "where the hell was *I* this whole time?"
Union teachers may have been
Union teachers may have been paid. Although Nova should not know who's in the Union and there's no way to know who is and who's not a Union member. Secondly, regardless if some Union members were paid or not at a time like this the Union should be a hell of a lot more vocal and actively recruiting and organising some sort of action. Being an ex Union floorman myself this is what an organised Union would be doing. The Nova Union does not come across as professional or organised the main reason why I never joined it. It took them long enought to get the shakai hoken situation sorted and instead of fighting Nova when they forced everyone to change their contracts so they weren't considered eligible for shakai hoken the Union claimed victory and went away. What victory? Instructors hours were cut, pay was cut and everyone was considered part-time and only a certain number of managers and "staff" joined shakai hoken. The vast majority didn't. This was far from the victory the Union made out. I actually reduced working conidtions and ensured that people would not be paid between lessons even when they were expected to work.
This current situation shown the Union for what I always considered them to be, useless! Which is sad because as a socialist I am a very strong believer in the power of the union and workers unionising to demand their rights.
Then to be fair to the Union, you can't unionise an industry with a turnover as high as Nova's.
Most Nova teachers don't
Most Nova teachers don't even know the union exists, let alone how to join.
Quick question Shawn
Shawn, I am assuming you attempted to call either the union or the administrative contact on the domain registration? I noticed that the site went down a week or so ago, but I didn't think much of it, as "account suspended" means they haven't gotten around to paying for the hosting fees yet. I usually pay my domain fees a little late sometimes, because I tend to use the occasion to shop around for for a better hosting plan.
I looked a little closer at the domain registration dates, and it's listed as Aug21, 2003. I looked at the hosting service website, and they only have a maximum of 2 year hosting contracts. So they obviously renewed the hosting plan once, and Aug21, 2007 the hosting service would have expired, and obviously it did.
Maybe the current Nova Union members are not aware or are unsure how to contact the hosting provider. I noticed that the union website stopped getting updated at some point so I think it's a possibility that they don't have a web-guru in their ranks at this time to figure things out?
Doesn't the union only cover
Doesn't the union only cover the big cities like Osaka and Tokyo?
If so, well yeah, of course Union members got paid, so did everyone else in their geographic area.
If any eikaiwa offered any
If any eikaiwa offered any of these useless union wasters an assistant management position, I bet they'd jump at the chance.
Reality check
I think it is worth pointing out that 'you can't win it, unless you are in it.' The union knows that it has very few members at Nova. Ideally, there would be a union leader in each branch, who would do the organising; collect subscriptions, distribute leaflets, information and hold monthly meetings, feedback etc. But, that is never going to happen. Most Nova instructors are at Nova for a short time. They are, for the most part, not interested in belonging to a union. It is only when trouble arises, like at present, that they start wondering what to do. Also, it really should be recognized that people like President Saruhashi are very, very difficult to deal with. Saruhashi would rather go to court than sit down with any union official to discuss pay and conditions. He's a right-wing, racist thug. Two things about him. He has/had strong connections to the LDP, who helped him to get around laws. In an infamous Nova TV commercial, he had instructors depicted as galley slaves on a boat, being whipped into Nova shape by a slave master. Of course, his right-hand man, Anders, is a notorious racist. He despises the foreign staff at Nova. The contempt they both have towards their foreign staff is staggering. Believe me, there is a lot more to uncover before this drama is played out.
Calling on Teachers.
With many teachers still waiting for their pay to come through... This is what I am thinking;
I've got nothing to do tomorrow... If Nova fails to pay employees their promised wages for LAST month, I am going to do some old fashioned picketing. I have friends in Kyushu, I used to work there and One told me on Friday "This is Bull... I have 600 Yen, I have to ask my Japanese girlfriend to lend me money"
This is not a responsible company. If anyone is willing to picket NOVA head office in Shin Siabashi in Osaka, I am game. I am going to prepare a press release to give to any media outlet that shows up.
Hopefully I can get a Japanese Translated version as well to present.
I think it is only responsible to give them until 2:00 p.m. to make the deposits. I will be informed, when this does or does not happen.
So come Three--- If NOVA doesn't pay... I am going to set up shop with a Sign...
Anyone coming with me... (if we do this at three there is a good chance that we can make the evening NEWS and the morning papers)
Please pass this on to anyone you know who is considering action. Time to make a move guys. And the Osaka teachers who did get paid are concerned about those of you who did not. We are in this together.
Post this anywhere you think it will reach concerned Employees.
Sounds like a good idea. Why
Sounds like a good idea. Why not do it regardless. They should have given us notice prior to holding back our pay. Just remember to let the media know.
Invitation to Japanese Media.
I have invited NHK, Japan Times and The Daily Yumori to Nova Groups Head Office tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
I sent them all the following message.
The Situation at Nova
As you may know or may not, NOVA Japan's largest English conversation school has promised teachers outside of Kanto and Kansai that their August pay would be deposited in their accounts on Tuesday September 18th. This is late.
Teachers such as myself in a branch school in Osaka have been paid for August's teaching hours. My friends in various parts of the country have not been so lucky. With growing concern surrounding the lack of NOVA's ability to pay and to answer instructor requests and Student Concerns in an appropriate fashion I am taking it upon myself to invite you to Nova Head office (Shin Siabashi) tomorrow, on Tuesday September 18th at 3:00 p.m. pending the outstanding payments to be made to Instructors in various regions in Japan. If these debts are paid by 2:00 p.m.
tomorrow the action is to be cancelled, if not I will be there with a press release.
Kindest Regards,
A copy of the press release in both English and Japanese will be offered here in a few minutes...
This is a shame for the NOVA Union... I am a regular Teacher with One Year in Japan and I have to do this...
I am concerned about all of you who have not been paid...
The Press Release...
NOVA non-payment of Foreign Instructors
(Osaka, Japan) 3:00 p.m. Tuesday September 18, 2007.
As of 2:00 p.m. today NOVA has defaulted on Payment of August 2007 Instructor salaries. Regular Instructors in various schools in Osaka and surrounding Kansai region have been paid for August. Regular Instructors in Tokyo and surrounding Kanto region have also been paid. Although Regular Instructors have collected their outstanding debts to date, Low and Middle Management have not collected salaries in either Kanto or Kansai. Titled Instructors, Assistant Trainers and Block Trainers have not been paid and Assistant Area Managers and Regional Area Managers will not confirm or deny payment to date. Confirmed reports of non-payment in Chubu and Tohoku regions were made available on various internet sites including www.LetsJapan.org. These faxes coming from Nova Group C.E.O. Nozom Sahashi claim that in Chubu; "Regrettably, it has not been possible to complete all the necessary operations to deposit instructor salaries on September 14, 2007. Salaries will be deposited by September 19, 2007. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that this causes." While Instructors in Tohoku branches were sent the same fax with September 18, 2007 as the payment date.
With the various business problems that have been documented in recent months it is growing ever harder to trust this organization to pay its outstanding creditors.
"I am here today in support of my fellow colleagues across the country who have not been paid their outstanding August salaries and in defiance of NOVA Group who have not been forthcoming with information. The silence that has haunted instructors, administrative staff and students in the recent months has to end."
"The solvency of NOVA Group is certainly in question at the moment, with instructors yet to be paid across the country the situation looks incorrigible, and I regret to inform students that the collapse of the company could happen at any time."
And the Japanese one...
NOVA-????????????-
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??????????????????????????????????????www.LetsJapan.org ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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Japanese Press Release,,,
Sorry doesn't look like the content in Japanese is supported, but it is ready in both languages...
Lets see what tomorrow brings...
Mojibake
I can't explain the garbled text, but the site is encoded in utf-8, so it should show up fine.I'm going to take a wild guess that it has to do with cutting and pasting text from your word processor to here.
Edit: OK, maybe it's the database and not your word processor. I'll look into it.
The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. -Albert Einstein
Shawn
"I am taking it upon myself
"I am taking it upon myself to invite you to Nova Head office (Shin Siabashi) tomorrow, on Tuesday September 18th at 3:00 p.m. pending the outstanding payments to be made to Instructors in various regions in Japan. If these debts are paid by 2:00 p.m.
tomorrow the action is to be cancelled, if not I will be there with a press release."
Mr. Anonymous,
I support what you're doing, but you're going about it entirely wrong. You're "inviting" members of the press to an event scheduled for 3:00 that may or may not be cancelled one hour beforehand. Are you going to call them and let them know? Is there a number that they can call? To be blunt, there is no one with the authority to get a story in the paper or on TV who is going to be willing to waste an entire afternoon in the hopes of receiving a "press release."
Next time, you need to make some contacts in the various media outlets, have an event that's DEFINITE, and THEN tell them to come when they're guaranteed a story.
Best of luck to you,
PanicInducingGaijin
I'd say go ahead regardless
I'd say go ahead regardless of payment. I'll be there. I reckon the media will be too. The simple fact is that the pricks didn't have the decency to give any prior indication of the delay of payment. If noone makes a noise it'll only get worse.
Wow this Nova business is
Wow this Nova business is getting pretty intense aye?? I have been informed that salaries have been processed at the head office end and will be deposited before 3pm tomorrow depending on your financial institution. (UFJ, tokyo mitsubishi being quicker than banks like citibank etc). Could be as early as midnight (meaning you may have already been paid)
Will this actually happen? Well...only time will tell (and not much of it)
I wont be paid until the next day however regardless:(
Gambare - good luck with the strike.
Day of Action- Delayed.
Well it seems that the teachers who were promised pay today have gotten it. At this time action would jepordize outstanding debts, so action is to be delayed.
I wrote the press release and I am trying to organize. My first concern is the people who were not paid. As of Wednesday at close of Business all teachers are to be paid, if this does not happen Thursday will bring action at NOVA head offices, both of them; the one in Shin Sai and the one in Namba. Apparently Payroll is done in Shin Sai and Main Office is in OCAT? Can anyone confirm this?
I invite your questions and comments and Anyone authorized to post this on the End of Nova Thread please do, I am sadly still waiting on authorization...
Please authorize my account Shawn, GOODBYENOVA or Action.
Regards Randy.
Facebook is a good place to organize as well "Nova Group of Japan" I will respond to personal e-mails from that site as it is more secure than posting my contact info here.
Nova teachers willing to join the union MIA
Really,
Is anyone posting here a member of the union?
If not, why is everyone complaining?
Union members have a gripe if they think the union is ineffective
But those who are not in the union, have (mostly by choice) decided to stay away
Heard how NOVA's president is missing? Maybe he has been found.
Hi, I work for NOVA also as an instructor, I imagine for one more month, before it shuts down. Anyway, anyone have info on if he is actually missing? Can't verify it through mainstream sources.
Stumbled across this article while searching for info on Nozumu's whereabouts:
"A head found in Osaka Bay in November was identified as that of a 45-year-old company president who wasn't reported missing, even by his family, until three months after he vanished. His wife and her brother were arrested for allegedly killing the man, cutting him up and dumping his remains in the sea, apparently because his wife thought he was lazy."
http://www.kansaiscene.com/2003_04/html/news.shtml
Heard how NOVA's president is missing? Maybe he has been found.
My last post got clipped...
Link from there, but you have to scroll down a little to see the story.
Could this article be referring to Nozomu Saruhashi, who is inexplicably missing?
Knowing a little of how the "losing face" concept works in Japan, I see its possible that Japanese media covering up & not reporting which company (i.e. NOVA) this man is connected to. Or perhaps NOVA struck a deal (i.e. paid media sources not to mention his name or relate this to NOVA). Don't mean to start mored rumours, but just wondering about this possible connection.
After all, how many Osaka area company presidents can be missing at the same time? Does anyone know if Nozomu-san is 45 years old?
If not, my suspicions would lie that he's probably escaped to some south seas island with a sizable chunk of NOVA's last remaining assets.
Cheers all, good luck seeing next month's pay... haha
He's not 45
Looking at the Reuters info about Nova, it looks like Sahashi is 55 years old.
http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/officersDirectors.asp?WTmodLOC=C3-Fi...
Union is to blame??
Anyone who blames the union for lack of action has little,or any idea,what we (union organisers) are up against with nova:year after year we organise,try to drum up membership&take nova to task over BREAKING THE LAW:not what we'd LIKE nova to do,just what it's SUPPOSED to do,LEGALLY:and every year,the naive kids roll up&either have a ball despite the crap conditions/treatment or slink off home/elsewhere,pissing&moaning:make a stand,stand up for yourselves or SHUT THE F**K up;just don't complain when you're steamrolled by corporate lackeys in every other workplace,because without Unions,thats what's gonna happen-the Union is NOT an ambulance or paramedic service(which usually cost money to join anyway)who come to your rescue when the going gets tough:they are insurance against major problems&a force for improvement of conditions to avoid said problems-teachers will blindly pay into novas (illegal) JMA system without a seconds thought/research,but will baulk at joining a union for less???Your here for a year,right,so what's the worst that could happen,right?Well,as has actually happened,you could find out you've got cancer&your employer(nova)finds out,denies treatment/coverage&spirals you into debt-just one true story amongst hundreds.We're sorry the (old) website is down,but if your volunteering to update it?..Get involved for positive change,stand up or shut up.
Take a look at yourself? weve lost the point
If what you say is true about JMA, you obviously didn't find it important enough to inform anyone until it was too late. I'm not accusing you of anything I'm just curious as to your timing?
Its not a battle of whose right or wrong its turned into an issue of fighting ourselves. has anyone (not excluding myself) looked at the entries over the past week or so? what a disgusting bunch of bitches who do nothing to help each other we have become. We instead prefer to insult the company ATs BTs AAMs etc. If you feel like this form is actually helping you go in the right direction, or not, send a reply. We are accomplishing nothing. We might as well all be knitting and gossiping about the neighbors. Lets get a perspective, collect, agree to do something besides whatever this junk is. The recent banter is tiresome and helps no one.
What a great tool we have to communicate but yet we use it to belittle ourselves and prove the exact points that we are trying to disprove . I expected more from a group who expects more for themselves. If the ship goes down do you have confidence that some of these bloggers would lend a hand to help you? I don't.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my feelings on human potential.
The Nova Union sucks
Mr Bob Trench
The union President - what a joke -
An English instructor - couldn't even do silent reading well in a lesson.
A selfish man who was only interested in himself.
Now that the instructors really need a union, it has disappeared.
Nova may or may not collapse. Nova has made many errors in regards to its business practices, but its biggest error was renewing contract after contract to an instructor who doesn't even know warm-up from an application.
Mr Trench - you have a big chip on your shoulder - build a bridge and get over it!
If you really care for the instructors at Nova, you would do something, even if it was only in gesture!
JMA
I knew JMA was illegal more than 5 years ago,as some one who used to work for them,someone who passed the level 1 JPT,quit when he found out&became a teacher instead;that strengthened my resolve to get shakai-hoken,but it took another 3 years to get it;I&others have been telling people this type of info for almost a decade,but no one really listened or cared,until they end up in the grinder looking for someone else other than nova to blame;yourself?Themselves?
Teachers and professors have
Teachers and professors have always been oppressed by our leaders because the illuminated minds that run our country didn't yet realize the importance of education. Or maybe they did and this is why they don't do a thing to improve it. A state of uneducated people is easier to control than a hand of illustrious minds. Don't you agree?
Control
What better way for the few to control the many by indoctrinating the 'teachers' who in turn force feed our kids. How is it that a person who toes the line and questions nothing is considered a good citizen whereas a free thinker who asks the question 'why?', is considered an outsider or enemy of the state. Remind you of anything? (George Orwell's 1984 perhaps).
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